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Saturday, 9 February 2013

The poem A River by A.K.
Ramanujan is a tour de force of
impressive potency and insightful philosophy and yet a poem characterised by
its graceful lucidity and finely honed criticism. Through the poem A River, the poet raises the question of
an artist’s commitment to the society.

In this poem, the poet has compared and contrasted the mind-set of
the old poets and those of the new poets to human misery. Both the poets are
apathetic to human sorrow and suffering. Their poetry does not mirror the
miseries of the human beings; on the other hand they are concerned with the
themes that are far away from the stark reality before them. They write about
the beauty of the river in full flood completely ignoring the devastation and
human tragedy wreaked by this beastly force.

In this poem, the poet
refers to the river Vaikai which flows through the city of Madurai. Madurai,
reputed for its rich cultural and spiritual heritage, is a well known city in
Tamil Nadu. In the poem A River the
poet presents two strikingly contrasting pictures of the river: a vivid picture
of the river in the summer season and the river in its full flow when the
floods arrive with devastating fury.

In the summer, the
river is almost barren and arid. Only a very thin stream of water flows
revealing the sand ribs on the bed of the river. There is also the picture of
the river in the monsoon season, flooded and with its immense destructive power
yet startlingly beautiful in its majestic flow.

Both the old and the new
poets have celebrated the beauty of the flooded river but they were not alive
to or sympathetic with human suffering caused by the monstrous flood.

The poet-visitor, a modern poet probably
Ramanujan himself, visits Madurai
when the Vaikai is in flood. He was extremely shaken by the dismal scene of
utter destruction caused by the river to life and property all around. He is
even more stunned by the insensitive attitude and the complete unconcern of the
city poets, both old and new, towards this tragic situation of human suffering
and fatality. He was distraught that they ‘sang only of the floods’ when they
should have rather tried to alleviate the people of their miserable state.
Being a realist himself, he takes a dig at these city poets for dodging reality
and attempting to flee into a made-up world of fantasy and fancy.

The poem A
River illustrates many
significant features of Ramanujan’s poetry, such as his adept linking of the
past and the present so as to introduce the idea of continuity, his effortless
depiction of the typical Indian surroundings. The use of wit, irony and humour,
and dramatic imagery is distinctive of his style.

Question 1

In Madurai,

city of temples and poets,

who sang of cities and
temples,

every summer

a river dries to a trickle

in the sand,

baring the sand ribs,

straw and women's hair

clogging the watergates

at the rusty bars

under the bridges with
patches

of repair all over them

1.Which river is mentioned in the extract? What is
Madurai reputed for? What was the subject of the poets of Madurai?

The river Vaikai which flows through the
ancient city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu is mentioned in the extract. Madurai is famous
for its spiritual, literary and cultural heritage; its magnificent city with
its numerous impressive temples built by the kings that ruled Madurai in the
past.

The poets of Madurai, its minstrels,
wrote and sang eulogies of its marvelous temples and its magnificent cites. In a way these eulogies can be deemed
as eulogies of the kings who built these temples and cities and patronized the literati.

2.What do the images of the river drying
to a trickle and the sand ribs suggest?

The river drying to a
trickle conveys the scorching heat of summer that dries up everything and makes
life unbearably miserable with the accompanying famine and starvation.

The dried river exposes
the sand dunes at the bottom of the river and they bring to our mind the
skeletal rib cages of a starved human being.

Both the images bring
out the ugly aspect of the dried up river that brings drought, which in turn
causes gruesome misery and starvation.
Human suffering caused by the drought is suggested by the river drying
to a trickle exposing the bone-dry expanse of the sand dunes.

3.What do the straw and women's hair do? What do they signify?

The straw and women's hair choke or block
the watergates under the bridges which have patches of repair all over them.

The three images -of the straw and women's hair and the bridges in
disrepair -together create a scenario of filth and wretchedness which the
flowing river has masked. However, the dry river bares and exposes the ugliness
that lies underneath.

The poet may be suggesting the attempt of the poets to hide or
callously ignore the stark and harsh social reality by writing poems of cities
and temples.